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Comments to US Postal Service on Delivery Vehicle Acquisitions

In August 2021, the U.S. Postal Service released a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) describing the likely environmental impact of its plans to acquire up to 165,000 Next Generation Delivery Vehicles over the next decade. The Postal Service committed to acquiring at least 10% battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as part of those acquisitions. In this draft EIS, following comments we had submitted on an earlier draft, the Postal Service monetizes the social cost of the marginal greenhouse gas emissions that these acquisitions would likely cause. We filed comments supporting that decision and describing several ways the Postal Service should extend its analysis, including by analyzing those costs under lower discount rates, analyzing local pollutants' costs, analyzing the benefits of preserving options and of leading by example, and rendering the costs and benefits it reports comparable.